Judge Sobeloff Retires from U.S. Court of Appeals; Reached 70

Judge Simon E. Sobeloff, chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, embracing five states which figured prominently in the judicial rulings aiding Negro integration in recent years, has retired because he has reached the mandatory quitting age of 70, it was announced here this weekend.

A native of Baltimore, he was active in the leadership of that city’s Jewish community for many years, having been president of the Board of Jewish Education and the Jewish Council, a member of the board of directors of the Associated Jewish Charities, a national vice-president of the American Jewish Congress, and president of a B’nai B’rith lodge.

He was United States Solicitor General in 1954 and 1955, and was elevated to the judiciary by President Eisenhower in the latter year. As Chief Judge of the Fourth Circuit, a post he assumed in 1958, he held the highest judicial post- below the Supreme Court–of any seat on the bench occupied by an American Jew in recent years. Judge Sobeloff’s circuit embraced Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina and Maryland.

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